'The Writings of a Savage?

' Literary Strategies in Paul Gauguin's "Noa Noa" Author(s): Linda Goddard Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 71 (2008), pp. 277-293 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20462786 . Accessed: 06/03/2013 21:43
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Warburg Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

'THE WRITINGS LITERARY STRATEGIES

OF A SAVAGE?' NOA NOA

IN PAUL GAUGUIN'S
Linda Goddard

espite his self-imposed exile in Polynesia from I89I, Gauguin continued to play an active role-from afar-in theParis artworld, maintaining corre spondence with important literary subscribing to periodicals, and writing figures, crypticexplanations to accompany paintingsback toEurope.' From theoutset,he imagined his transferal termsof itspotential impacton aWestern audience and, in once settled, he continued to relyupon European publications to resurrect in digenousmyths and deities.2 Noa Noa, a partlyautobiographical fictionevokinghis paintings and experiences in Tahiti,was a key textin thisendeavour to manipulate his criticalreception. Later revised in collaborationwith theSymbolistpoet Charles Morice, the first draftofNoa Noa (hereafter denoted the DraftMS) was completed following Gauguin's temporaryreturn to Paris in September I893, and possibly intended to complement an exhibition of his Tahitian paintings at theDurand Ruel Gallery in November I893, though it was not completed in time.3 Combining descriptions of his paintingswith tales of adventure and referencesto Polynesian myth, itwas less an accurate record of Gauguin's life, than a carefully staged encounter between theEuropean and the 'exotic'. Although frequentlysampled for 'evidence' about Gauguin's lifeand work, Noa Noa is rarely taken seriously as a literarytext. Whether celebrating or con demning his 'primitive'adventure, scholars have treated itprimarily asmerely an autobiographical document or an explanatory guide to his painting, and have insistedon the crudeness and simplicityof the artist'sprose.4 In a I96I edition of DraftMS, forexample, JeanLoize claimed that 'As soon as he takesup a pen, the he Gauguin is entirely tricks: knows thathe isbarbar spontaneous,with no literary ous and shocking.'5 While thebarbarous and shockingnaivetyof his paintings has

see Gauguin Tahiti. The Studio of theSouth Seas, ed. G. T. M. London Shackelford and C. Fr?ches-Thory, 2004. 2. The first to document

i. Gauguin lived in French Polynesia from 1891 to 1893, and from 1895 until his death in 1903. For a recent comprehensive investigation of these periods,

4- Texts that use Noa Noa as a source for suppos to information are too numerous edly biographical list. Rare explorations of the book's literary themes and influences of Noa Fictions Noa', Oxford include N. Wadley, inNoa Noa. 'The Facts Gauguin's and Tahiti,

B. Dorival, 'Sources Egypt and Ancient Greece',

these borrowings were of the Art of Gauguin from Java,

ed. N. Wadley, as Author: Writing Gogh Museum

1985, and E. Childs, 'Gauguin the Studio of the Tropics', Van

The Burlington Magazine, 'La Clef xcm, 577,1951, pp. 118-22, and R. Huyghe, de Noa Noa', in P. Gauguin, Ancien Culte mahorie Paris 2001 (first published (1893), ed. R. Huyghe, 1951). 3.Malibu, J.Paul Getty Museum. edition: P. Gauguin, Noa Noa (1893), First facsimile ed. B. Sagot-le

Journal, 2003, pp. 70-87 (74-78). and 5. J. Loize, 'Post-script: The Real Noa Noa in P. Gauguin, Noa Noa. Voyage the Illustrated Copy', toTahiti (1893), tr. J.Griffin, postscript by J. Loize, Oxford 1961, p. 69. Wayne Andersen similarly states that Gauguin oric' of a Savage, 1996, p. xviii. 277 in his introduction strategies of rhet to P. Gauguin, The Writings tr. E. Levieux, New York ed D. Gu?rin, 'lacked the essential

Garree,

Paris

1954.

JOURNAL THEWARBURG OF AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES,LXXI, 2008

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

278

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

longbeen recognized as a deliberate primitivistdevice, hiswriting has rarelybeen creditedwith the same self-conscious artifice.6 Gauguin's collaboration with Morice in I894-95 on a revised version of the text (hereafter denoted theLouvre MS)7 is regarded as a crucialwitness to the opposition thathe set out to explore between the 'exotic' and theEuropean, and has long been the focus of critical debate. Essentially, the dichotomy between Noa Noa isplayed out in twooppositional pairings: that 'savage' and 'civilised' in between Europe and Tahiti inGauguin's fictional narrative, and that between Gauguin the 'primitive'artist andMorice the 'civilised' poet in the composition of the revised text.In otherwords, the contrast between the 'intuitive'account of thepainter and the 'learned' commentary of thepoet was consciously designed to reflectthe confrontationbetween Europe and Polynesia that is the central theme of the text. It is consistentlyassumed, however, that Gauguin positioned himself on the side of the 'primitive' inboth of these pairings. Whether praising itsvivid portrayal of his encounterwith the 'exotic', or exposing it as an imperialist fan tasy,commentators repeatedly insiston the coherence-authentic or staged-of Gauguin's account.8 However, just as theartist'soriginal drafthas been misread, I suggest,as naive and transparent,so his partnershipwithMorice has been miscast as a rigidoppo sitionbetween untrained simplicityand turgidsophistication. I have argued else where that,even in its most schematic state, Noa Noa is a complex literary textthat both builds on and resistsan established tradition travel of writingabout Polynesia.9 Gauguin's role-play as the inexperiencedpartner in thecollaborationwithMorice was a knowing literary device that enabled him to set up a thematicallyeffective opposition, while maintaining his 'primitive'credentials. By reconsidering their partnership, I aim to show that the opposition between intuitionand erudition, supposedly embodied by painter and poet, is as unstable as the fluctuation between and 'civilised' in the text itself. 'savage' Since the initialpublication ofGauguin's Draft MS in I954-long after ex had first cerptsof the revised text appeared in I897-preoccupation with recovering the artist's 'true' voice has clouded analysis of his collaboration withMorice.'
6. Belinda Thomson offers a note of caution rare the sauvage' and 'is unequivocal about his incorpor ation into Polynesian culture'. Both writers overlook the ambiguity of the relation between 'civilised' and Noa Noa. 'savage' in Noa Noa 9. L. Goddard, 'Gauguin's Guidebooks: in the Context ofNineteenth-Century Travel Writing', in Strange Sisters. Literature and Aesthetics in the Nine teenth Century, ed. J.B. Bullen 2008 (forthcoming). 10. The major attempts versions and F. Orestano, Oxford

editors: 'we should guard against among Gauguin's accepting the writings of the self-styled "savage", how ever frank they may seem, at face value'; P. Gauguin, Gauguin London by Himself, ed. B. Thomson, Boston and 2000, p. 7. du Louvre MS 7. Paris, Mus?e edition: P. Gauguin and C. Morice,

125. First facsimile Noa Noa (1893

97), Berlin 1926. 8. Loize (as in n. 5), p. 70, enthuses thatNoa Noa in contact with this new 'reveals to us the painter country and with its spirit ... Let us not grudge him his use of the word bonheur'; more critically, E. Hughes in Modern French Literature, Cam (WritingMarginality 'claims bridge 2001, pp. 28,36) protests that Gauguin direct access to the primitive, assuming the mantle of

for the successive J.Loize, d'erreur (1893), and most

n. 2.; written before

to establish a chronology have been Huyghe (as in the discovery of the Draft MS);

sous lemasque ou cinquante ans 'Gauguin autour de Noa Noa\ in P. Gauguin, Noa Noa ed. J. Loize, Paris 1966; Wadley (as in n. 4); recently, I. Cahn, 'Noa Noa: The Voyage to

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA

GODDARD

279

Before his return toTahiti in I895, it is clear that Gauguin approved (and, as we shall see, probably contributed to) an extended, edited version of his first account, which comprised some additional narrativeepisodes, a preface and an introduction, as well as poems byMorice. Each author kept a copy and made further additions independently. Back inTahiti, Gauguin added illustrationsand another, stillun Diverses choses(I896-97), to create theversion now in theLouvre, published text, whileMorice continued to revisethenarrativeand add more poems toproduce the versionpublished by La Plume in I9OI-the only fullversion ofNoa Noa to appear but duringGauguin's lifetime, which the artistnever saw." Rather than accepting the amorphous, collaborative and changing nature of this work, critics have focused instead on isolating theDraft MS of I893 as the state' of Morice's only legitimate text,dismissing the jointLouvre MS as a 'first I9OI edition.I2As the extant versions ofNoa Noa came to light in reverseorder, Gauguin's original text emerged like a palimpsest, prompting commentators to denounce laterversions as corruptions of the artist's initialvision.I3An 'irrespon siblewould-be modern poet' and 'evil-doer of thewrittenword', Morice stood accused of destroying Gauguin's 'savage' talewith his overwroughtprose.I4 Itwas Nicholas Wadley-in his translatededition of the DraftMS-who first questioned these preconceptions regarding Morice's involvement, arguing that the poet's refinedstylesuitedGauguin's desire to juxtapose the 'primitive'and the cultured and was therefore vital component of thework as Gauguin had conceived it.I5 a AlthoughWadley's reassessment of the partnership is convincing, he none theless reiteratestheusual assumptions about the artist's lack of sophistication as awriter.A key motivation forengaging Morice, he suggests, is that Gauguin 'was not a writer himself', and was 'consistentlyattracted to youngmen intellectually more articulate thanhimself'.'6 In otherwords, he accepts at facevalue Gauguin's own distinction between his 'primitive' style and Morice's 'cultured' one. But Gauguin's description of the partnership reveals thathis naivetywas deliberate, not natural: 'On the subject of non-civilised people, ithad occurred tome,' he wrote to the artistDaniel de Monfreid, 'to bring out the contrast between their character and ours, and I had thought it would be an original idea towrite (myself man - Morice. So I conceived of quite simplyas a savage) next to the style a civilised and directed collaboration along these lines; and also, not being a professional, the as theysay, to get a sense of which of thetwo uswas better; thenaive and brutal of savage or the rottencivilisedman.'"7 It is clear fromthisquotation thathe was not
tr. M.

Tahiti',

Polizzotti,

in Shackelford Noa

and Fr?ches Noa, Paris

(as in n. i), pp. 134-52. Thory 11. P. Gauguin and C. Morice, dated 1901. Morice's manuscript,

inGauguin, pp. 210-16 (210); D. Gu?rin, 'Foreword', The Writings of a Savage (as in n. 5), p. xxxv. 15.Wadley (as in n. 4), p. 8. 16. Ibid., p. 101. de 17. 'J'avais eu l'id?e, parlant des non-civilis?s, faire ressortir leur caract?re ? c?t? du n?tre, et j'avais trouv? assez original d'?crire (moi tout simplement en sauvage) et a c?t? le style d'un civilis? qui estMorice.

phia, Paley Library, Temple variations to this published edition. 12. Loize (as in n. 5), p. 69. 13. As noted byWadley (as in n. 4), p. 97. 14. C. Stuckey, 'The First Tahitian Years', Art ofPaul Gauguin, ed. R. Brettell, Washington

1897, in Philadel University, contains minor

in The 1988,

J'avais donc imagin? et ordonn? cette collaboration dans ce sens; puis aussi, n'?tant pas comme on dit du

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

280

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

usingMorice's sophistication to compensate for lack of experience, but rather to show offhis deliberately syntheticand 'primitive'technique to its fulladvantage. Far frombeing natural, his anti-literarystylewas deliberately designed to echo the 'primitive' qualities thathe attributed to Tahiti, and to distinguishhis narrative from the literary accounts of professionalwriters and art critics. Attempts to understand thegenesis and significanceofNoa Noa are compli cated by uncertainty about who proposed the project in the first place, and the precise division of labour during the elaboration of thedraft.Similarities between theLouvre MS and theLa Plume edition indicate a common source, but no con sensus as towhen and where the two authorsmade their respective copies has been reached.'8 In hismonograph on thepainter, Morice claimed fullresponsibility for initiating and developing theventure,noting that the inspirationfora 'literary composition on the themes of the painter' had come to him on the occasion of Gauguin's I893 Durand-Ruel exhibition,and that 'Gauguinwelcomed my sugges He quickly drafted thenotes from which Iwrote the chapters tion enthusiastically. where "the Narrator speaks"'.'9 However, his assertions crumble under further inspection, sinceGauguin first announced his plan fora 'book onTahiti', without mentioningMorice, in a lettertohiswifewrittenbefore theexhibition tookplace.20 Moreover, his friend Daniel deMonfreid recalledhim reading aloud recentlycom Noa Noa in his Paris studio in I894 and apparently insisted pleted chapters from that at that time 'he had no intentionof takingon a collaborator'.21 Willingness to acceptMorice's version of events-despite itsunreliability novice. In her recent analy stems fromtheassumption that Gauguin was a literary sis of thepartnership, forexample, Isabelle Cahn suggests thathe 'did not want to risk writing a book on his own' and preferred to 'entrustthecomposition of the final textto a professionalwriter'.22 In fact, writing for Gauguin was not a second ary activity, but a serious, ongoing commitment. In addition toNoa Noa, he edited satiricalnewspapers and produced memoirs, art criticism,and a largecorrespon dence. By I893, he had alreadypublished art criticismand produced two illustrated manuscripts: Cahier pour Aline (I892-93) and Ancien Culte mahorie (I893) .23
savoir un peu lequel de nous deux valait le du sauvage na?f et brutal ou du civilis? pourri'; de Monfreid, May letter to Daniel 1902, in Gauguin, P. Gauguin, Lettres de Paul Gauguin ? Georges-Daniel de Monfreid, ed. A. Joly-S?galen, Paris 1950, p. 188 (original emphases). 18. See Wadley (as in n. 4), pp. 97-98. uvres expos?es les 19. 'C'est en ?tudiant ? sa femme et ? ses amis, Lettres de Gauguin Gauguin, ed. M. Malingue, Paris 1992, p. 253. 21. 'Il r?sulte de souvenirs tr?s pr?cis conserv?s de Monfreid alors par Daniel que, quand Gauguin, en lut ? celui-ci, dans son occup? ? r?diger Noa Noa, atelier de la rue Vercing?torix, certains chapitres qu'il venait de terminer, le peintre... ne songeait nullement ? s'adjoindre Paul Gauguin 22. Cahn collaborateur'; J. de Rotonchamp, 1848-1903, Paris 1925, p. 129. (as in n. 10), p. 94. earliest published articles are 'Notes 23. Gauguin's sur l'art - ? l'exposition Le Moderniste universelle', sur l'art - ? l'ex illustr?, 4 July 1889, pp. 84-86; Notes illustr?, 13 (suite)', Le Moderniste position universelle un

m?tier, mieux;

rue

Laffitte en 1893 que me vint l'id?e d'une composition litt?raire sur les th?mes du peintre... Gauguin accueil lit avec enthousiasme ma proposition. Il r?digea tr?s vite les notes o? "le Conteur d'apr?s parle"'; j'?crivis les chapitres lesquelles C. Morice, Paris Gauguin,

1920, p. 187. 20. 'Je pr?pare en outre un livre sur Tahiti et qui sera tr?s utile pour faire comprendre ma peinture.'; Gauguin, letter to Mette Gauguin, October 1893, in P.

ici?', Le July 1889, pp. 90-91; and 'Qui trompe-t-on Moderniste illustr?, 21 September 1889, pp. 170-71. The only edition of Gauguin's collected writings is

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA GODDARD

281

Denials of literary expertise are a constant featureof his writing, fromhis early pretension',24tohis latediatribe published articles,composed 'withoutany literary which he claimed to 'talkabout against art criticism, Racontars de rapin (I902), in painting, not as a literary man, but as a painter' .25Such protestations of naivety should not be taken at face value. They served to enhance his 'savage' status, in erudition hemocked, and to contrast to the criticsand academicians whose stuffy his assertion that avert accusations of literaryambition. For in order to justify men' he needed, in 'paintershave no need of support or instructionfrom literary and to demonstrate his ownwriting,both todemonstratehis superiorvisual insight, at all costs its 'anti-literary' character.26 expert Meanwhile, Morice had his own reasons forcontrastinghis literary Louvre MS isewith Gauguin's apparent naivety. When an excerpt from the which passed to deMonfreid after the artist'sdeath-appeared in theperiodical Les Marges in I9IO, Morice was angered by claims that it represented,not only more gripping' version of events Gauguin's original text,but a 'simpler, spicier, than theeditionpublished in 190I.27 Seeking to set the record straight, protested he mine ...much more than it is Gauguin's. I collabor to the editor that 'Noa Noa is ated with him as a poet or an artistcollaborates with nature.'2S Morice's contribution Publicly, at least, Gauguin, on theother hand, limited until to theprovision of poems. He did not announce the collaboration officially I895, atwhich point he explained that 'I describemy lifeinTahiti andmy thoughts on art. works I have brought back fromthere.'29 Morice comments inverse on the Yet Morice claimed not only that he wrote all the poems-which he obviously did-but thathe played a decisive role in thecreation of the 'biographicalchapters' too.These, he claimed, represented a 'process of adaptation' which would make it 'difficult distinguishbetween the element of confession [Gauguin's 'notes' or to verbal communications] and theelement of interpretation'.3? Designed to elevate his role fromthatof commentator to thatof originator, this tendentious comment
in (as in n. 5) (first published Oviri, ?crits d'un sauvage, ed. D. Gu?rin, Paris 1974), but the texts are abridged, and their original form and structure not always respected. The Writings of a Savage French as P. Gauguin, commencera dans son prochain 24. 'LeModerniste la publication num?ro d'une s?rie de notes sur les ... sans nulle pr? beaux-arts ? l'exposition crayonn?s tention litt?raire, par Paul Gauguin.'; M. d'Escaurailles 'La critique sans phrases', Le Modern (G.-A. Aurier), reused the iste illustr?, 27 June 1889, p. 76. Gauguin phrase 'sans nulle pr?tention litt?raire' with reference to his text Racontars de rapin (1902), in a September inGauguin 1902 letter to the critic Andr? Fontainas, (as in n. 20), p. 311. 25. 'Je vais essayer de parler peinture, non en homme Racontars de lettres, mais de rapin (1902), en peintre.'; P. Gauguin, ed. R. Huyghe, Paris 1951, de l'appui et de l'instruction des hommes letter to Daniel de Monfreid, lettres.'; Gauguin, October 1902, inGauguin (as in n. 17), p. 192 (original n'ont besoin de emphasis). 27. 'C'est plus simple, plus savoureux, plus de Montfort sant.'; Eug?ne {Les Marges, May cited in Loize (as in n. 10), p. 97. saisis 1910),

... bien plus que de est de moi 28. 'Noa Noa J'ai collabor? avec lui comme un po?te ou Gauguin. un artiste collabore avec la nature.'; cited ibid., p. 97. 29. 'Je raconte ma vie ?Tahiti et mes impressions d'art. Morice rapport?.'; guin' Oviri, p. 138. les chapitres de pure biographie 30. '... m?me repr?sentent un travail de transposition o? la part des confidences et la part de l'ex?cution seraient difficiles ? d?brouiller.'; cited in Loize (as in n. 10), p. 98. en vers l' uvre que j'en ai commente 'Interview de Paul Gau Eug?ne Tardieu, {L'Echo de Paris, 13May 1895) in P. Gauguin, ?crits d'un sauvage, ed. D. Gu?rin, Paris, 1974,

p. 16. 26. Referring to Racontars de rapin, he notes 'jeme suis efforc? de prouver que les peintres en aucun cas

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

282

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

refuses to elucidate precisely thedivision of labour, and casts a shadow of distrust over thepracticalities of thepartnership. Nonetheless, whether complaining, likeLoize, that 'Gauguin's initial idea was quickly betrayed by his overly literary like companion', or affirming, Wadley, that Gauguin 'approved the first phase of Morice's editing and writing', scholars Morice the uniformlyattribute to majority of revisions to theDraft MS.3' Yet the only grounds forassigning authorship to thepoet are his own questionable claims, and the apparentlymore 'literary'status of the reworked material. In fact, there are strong indications thatGauguin's contributionwas more extensive than has been previously assumed. Contradicting Loize's assumption that,since he 'never corrected himself', the initialdraft 'would have been scarcely altered byGauguin if had published italone', annotated and pasted-in sections show thathe revised he was evenmooted.32 and elaborated his prose before Morice's involvement What is more, theappended revisions indicate that Gauguin worked at devel oping a more sophisticated style. For example, he entirely rewrote a passage describing his effortsto paint a portrait of his striking neighbour (depicted in the i89i paintingVahineno tetiare).In the first version,he recorded simplyhis difficulty in persuading her to pose and his desire to capture 'the charm of aMaori smile'. He then rewrote theepisode at some length-pasting extra sheets into the margins -as thoughher elusive presence were as difficultto capture inwords as it was in paint. In the second version,her featureshave acquired 'aRaphaelesque harmony in the mouth modelled by a sculptorwho spoke all the meeting of theircurves, the tongues of language and of kisses, of joy and of suffering;that melancholy made of bitterness blended with pleasure, of passivity dwelling within domination. A complete fearof theunknown.'33Such revisionsdemonstrate thateven at thisearly stage of theproject,Gauguin toowas capable of the kind of 'melodramatic' and Morice.34 'excessive' editing generally attributed to Draft While thepasted-in revisionsare reproduced inpublished editions of the or MS as autographGauguin, otherpointswhere a brief reference ellipsis indicates a theme to be developed are assumed to have been leftforcompletion by Morice. This hypothesis isbased on a falsedistinctionbetween the supposedly 'biographi cal' aspects of thenarrative and those that relyon extraneous literary material. In particular, the increased dependence, in theLouvre MS, onMaori legends derived fromthe two-volumeethnographic study Voyages aux ilesdu grand ocean (I837) by theBelgian consul Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout, has been laid solely at Morice's

31. '...la premi?re id?e de Gauguin son trop litt?raire compagnon.'; (as in n. 4), p. 106. Wadley par

fut vite trahie ibid., p. 74;

de l'amertume m?l?e souffrance; cette m?lancolie au plaisir, de la passivit? r?sidant dans la domination. Toute une peur de l'inconnu.'; Gauguin (as in n. 3), p. 8. 34. Wadley (as in n. 4, p. 78, n. 61) refers to an 'ex in the Louvre addition' tended, rather melodramatic to Gauguin's account of his 1892 painting Ma nao MS tupapau; Loize (as in n. 10), p. 105, describes Morice's as 'd?bordante' contributions (excessive).

aurait 32. '... le premier jet du Noa Noa de Gauguin ?t? peu modifi? par lui s'il avait d? le publier seul. Il ne se corrigeait gu?re.'; Loize (as in n. 10), p. 72. charme d'un sourire Maori'; '...une 33. '...ce harmonie dans la rencontre des courbes, rapha?lique model?e par un sculpteur parlant toutes les langues du langage et du baiser de la joie et de la la bouche

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA

GODDARD

283

door. Yet, as Rene Huyghe firstshowed, Gauguin himself transcribed passages Ancien Cultemahorie,and this fromthisstudy, which he obtained in was Tahiti, into in fact the true source of the Polynesian myths thathe claimed to have learned from Tahitianmistress,Tehamana.35 In comparison to theLouvre MS, Gauguin his made relatively borrowings from few DraftMS. Several Ancien Cultemahorie in the of these arewoven seamlessly into the initial narrative.36 One-describing thebirth of the stars-is added on a separate sheet, and two others are indicated in note form,for laterdevelopment in theLouvre MS.37 Citing one of these additional borrowings-a brief reference to the 'legend ofTefatou'-Loize concludes thatGauguin 'finds this incorporation of legends difficultand tiresome' and so 'entrusts it to the professional experience of his collaborator',without whose interference'hewould have known how to stick to to of everydayreality'.38 Similarly,referring theappended passage on the 'birth the Ancien Cultemahorie stars',Wadley concurs that 'thedecision touse material from may have followed the initialconception ofNoa Noa'.39 However, ifthisepisode was added at Morice's instigation, the latter's decision to omit itfromtheLa Plume edition is puzzling.What ismore-in linewith the broader field of nineteenth century travel writing-Gauguin clearly intended tomix lifeand legend fromthe start, since elsewhere he integratedexcerpts from Ancien Culte mahorie into the plotwithout theneed forsubsequent revision.40 Many of the travel memoirs and colonial guidebooks thathe consulted before composing Noa Noa likewise com bined personalised adventure storieswith authenticating detail from Moeren hout.4' In I893, in a letter to his wife, Gauguin referredto 'a book on my journey me a lotofwork', corroboratinghis commitment to the rewriting which is giving ofNoa Noa.42 Ifwe accept thathe made revisions to the textbefore employing a co-writer,then it is reasonable to conclude thathe intended to expand all of the himselfaswell. Furthermore, there is evidence that operated he preliminaryjottings in this notes and creatingexpanded versions way on other occasions, working from whereas Gauguin authored all the of earliermanuscripts.43The convention that,
35- Huyghe (as in n. 2). (as in n. 3), p. 24, the 'legend of Roua 36. Gauguin Hatou' p. 27, describing ('l?gende de Roua hatou'); Tehamana's prayer; p. 29, an 'oldMaori saying' ('vieux discours maorie'). the birth of the stars; 37. Ibid., p. 20, describing p. 16, the 'legend of T?fatou' ('l?gende de T?fatou'); p. 17, 'description of the paintings Matamua Autrefois and Hi?a Maruru' ('description du tableau Matamua Autrefois et de Hina Maruru'). 38. '... cette intercalation l?gendaire lui para?t diffi cile, fastidieuse. Il s'en remet ? l'exp?rience profession nelle de son aide ... Si le peintre s'en ?tait charg?, il aurait su rester dans in n. 10), p. 75. 39. Wadley (as in n. 4), p. 78, n. 59. 40. See n. 36. la r?alit? quotidienne.'; Loize (as are from Moerenhout 41. For example, passages inMonchoisy La Nouvelle included (M. Mativet), Cythere, Paris 1888, and H. Le Charrier, Tahiti et les colonies fran?aises Gauguin's n. 9). exposure de la Polyn?sie, Paris 1887. On to these texts, see Goddard (as in

42. 'un livre sur mon voyage qui me donne beau letter toMette Gauguin, coup de travail'; Gauguin, December (as in n. 20), p. 255. 1893, inGauguin and P. O'Reilly, 43. B. Danielsson 'Gauguin journaliste ?Tahiti et ses articles des Gu?pes', Journal de la Soci?t? des Oc?anistes, xxi, 1965, pp. 1-63 (3-4) refer to notes from which Gauguin longer developed articles. Gauguin and revised the section expanded et les temps modernes', from catholique 'L'?glise to form the 1902 manuscript Diverses choses (1896-97) et le catholicisme; see E. Childs, L'Esprit moderne

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

284

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

attached sheets, the annotations were laterdeveloped byMorice alone is incon sistent.For example, thenotes 'Description [of] landscape - Shore side - Picture of the woodcutter' are jotted on thepage of theDraft MS in the manner of other indications such as 'Legend ofTefatou', which are normally ascribed to Morice.44 But in thiscase, at least, Gauguin's authorship isundisputed.No commentatorhas suggested that thispassage-in which he used two additional sheets to describe a woodcutter atwork-was not of his own invention. Yet although itdoes not use material from Moerenhout, thisepisode (which Man with anAxe) isno less 'literary', relates to the I89I painting The and no more 'biographical', than thenightlyconversationswithTehamana that frame the myth of the 'birthof the stars', or the fishingexpedition that introduces the legend of woodcutter attacking the thePolynesian Neptune, Roua Hatou. The sightof the tree-whether or not it relates toGauguin's personal experience-is the spring Western board for a celebration of Buddhist spirituality,and its superiority to the fallen leaves,whose pattern resembles an 'Oriental materialism. Inspired by vocabulary', spelling 'that word, ofOceanic origin:Atua, God', Gauguin thinksof whom 'all the most brilliant splendours ofKings and their ministers Tathagata, for Rather thandocumenting daily life the island, on are nothingbut spittleand dust'.45 these editorial revisions are designed to enhance the central thematic opposition between the 'primitive'and the 'civilised'. In a related-and much discussed-episode of theDraftMS, Gauguin takes on the role ofwoodcutter himself, and explicitly linkshis destruction of a tree to his transformationfroma civilisedEuropean into a 'savage'. He tellshow he was mountain path by a youngTahitian man on an expedition guided along a difficult to findwood for carving, confessing that theman's 'lithe animal body' and When the artistand his 'gracefulforms' aroused inhim 'a premonition of crime'. with an axe,Gauguin guide reach a plateau and begin to attack theirchosen tree a transformation:'I struck angrily,'he writes, 'and,my hands bloody, undergoes chopped with the pleasure of satisfying brutality,of destroying I am not sure my what. Well and truly me. wiped out indeed, all the old residue of civilisedman in I returned at peace, feelingmyself from then on a different man, a Maori.'46 On this occasion, notes in themargin, rather than attached sheets, develop the philosophical and thematic significance of this supposedly biographical event. Comments such as 'vice unknown among the savages' and 'desire to be for a moment weak, a woman', again highlight the contrast between the apparent freedomofOceania and theconstricting morality of 'civilised' society,from which his attack on the tree symbolically releases him.47

'"Catholicism as Writer

and

theModern

Mind":The

Painter

inLate Career', in Shackelford and Fr?ches (as in n. i), pp. 243-59. Thory c?t? de lamer tableau 44. 'Description paysage du bucher?n.'; Gauguin (as in n. 3), p. 7. '...ce mot originaire 45. '...vocabulaire oriental'; les plus parfaites d'Oc?anie Atua. Dieu'; '...toutes

des Rois et de leurs ministres ne sont magnificences que comme du crachat et de la poussi?re.'; ibid., p. 7. formes', 46. 'corps souple d'animal', 'gracieuses 'un pressentiment de crime', 'Je frappais avec rage et lesmains ensanglant?es je coupais avec le plaisir d'une Bien brutalit? assouvie, d'une destruction de je ne sais quoi. d?truit en effet tout mon vieux stock de civilis?.

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA

GODDARD

285

For most commentators, this episode marks Gauguin's transformation genuine or cynical-from European to 'primitive'. However, even afterthisevent, he frequently undermines his 'savage' identity and ironically highlightsthe fragility of his 'conversion'.After a successful catch on a fishingexpedition, forexample, no sooner has he acquired 'native' skills,thanhe signalshis difference heralding by his European nationality: 'clearlytheFrenchman brought luck'.He immediately regrets outsider status,however, his when his companions reveal thathis particular fishingtechnique is an omen of hiswife's infidelity. Upon his return-in a parody of the makes wood-cutting episode-he adopts a position of feminised passivitythat clear his failureas a 'savage': 'myvahine [mistress] handled the axe, chopped wood, while I gotmyself readyand wrapped up against the coolness of thenight. lita fire, My share of the fishcooked. Hers raw.'48In a reversalof gender expectations, his mistress adopts the role of the woodcutter,while Gauguin, the sensitive European, is leftto protect himself against the elements. In addition to these episodes in theDraftMS, at least one additional section of theLouvre MS was evidentlybased on a manuscript inGauguin's hand, re produced in the I920 edition of Morice's monograph on the artist.49 Comparing thispassage to two similar episodes also absent from theDraft MS, Wadley con cludes that 'it is reasonable to assume lostmanuscripts for these also'. Indeed, theirattributiontoGauguin ispersuasive, thoughnot somuch because, asWadley suggests, 'theyare convincing as having a basis inGauguin's life inTahiti', than because their theme of cultural disjunction relates them convincingly to other episodes inGauguin's fictionalnarrative, such as the fishingtriporwood-cutting expedition.5? In an account of a tripto the Mara, forexample,Gauguin again uses Grotto of the theme of a journey-this time an outing to a cave-to convey insecurityand cultural difference. Accompanied byTehura (an alternativename forTehamana in theLouvreMS) and her friends, proposes swimmingto the farend of thegrotto, he but ismet with 'long private chats followed bymysterious laughter' and left to proceed alone.As he continues,he isovercome by fearand repeatedlyfailsto reach his destination, which seems to retreatas he approaches. Far from penetrating the Tahitian psyche, he returnsto findhis companion's friends have lost depths of the while she asks ironically whether he was afraid. interest, Again, he emphasises his European identity,retorting: 'We French, we are never afraid'. In response, he to notes, 'no signof admiration from Tehura'.5' Once again, his inability acclimatise is consciously foregrounded. With their literaryturn of phrase and dialectical
un autre Je revins tranquille me sentant d?sormais homme un Maorie.'; ibid., pp. 12,13. 'D?sir du vice chez les sauvages.', 47. 'L'inconnu d'?tre un instant faible, femme.'; ibid., p. 12. le fran?ais portait chance.', '... 48. 'D?cidemment ma vahin? maniait la hache fendait le bois allumait du me couvrais pour la feu tandis que jem'appropriais fra?cheur de la nuit. Ma cuite. La part de poisson sienne crue.'; ibid., pp. 25, 27. 49- Morice (as in n. 19), p. 169. 50. Wadley (as in n. 4), p. 48. ? 51. 'De longs conciliabules 'Nous '...pas and Morice

rires qui m'intriguent.', n'avons jamais peur.', deTehura.'; 40,141. Gauguin

l'?cart, puis des nous autres Fran?ais un geste d'admiration (as in n. 7), pp. 139

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

286

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

themes,Gauguin's revisions-whether in the formof appended sheets, notes in the margin, or unrecovered manuscripts-are based less on 'everydayreality',than on a complex interplay betweenmasculine and feminine,civilised and savage, that appears. confirmshis Draft MS is far more literarythan itat first Beyond these textual additions and revisions, another significantalteration that Gauguin made to theDraftMS was to introduce a visual dimension. Signifi cantly, thepreface to theLouvre MS described Noa Noa as a book 'to be seen as While well as read', a phrase omitted from Morice's final,unillustrated version.52 Gauguin's illustrationsare celebrated independently,theirrelationship to his text The original arrangement of text and is usually thought to be largelyfortuitous. image is preserved only in the I926 facsimile edition of theLouvre MS and has been disregarded in previous and subsequent editions, obscuring the visual and verbal hybridityof thework and treating the images as a secondary, detachable feature.53 The perception that the illustrationswere an afterthoughthas doubtless A number were glued onto arisen because of theiruneven distribution. significant Morice thatnever appeared. Others, blank pages originally reserved for poems by with the narrative,were however, executed directlyon the page and interwoven Amongst thisgroup are a number obviously an integral feature from the start.54 Ancien Cultemahorie. In theprocess of trans were copied from ofwatercolours that were divorced fromtheepisodes that theyoriginallyaccompanied (which feral,they also made their way, separately, into theLouvre MS). As a result, it is usually assumed thatthatthey were merely copied at random from Gauguin's earlier text.55 Ancien Culte However, if Gauguin had been transferringimages directly from would be hard to explainwhy he repeatedlysplit mahorie simply to fillspace, then it inpairs,when there was enough room to reproduce an up illustrationsappearing identical juxtaposition on the emptypages ofNoa Noa.56 Instead, subtle changes was carefullyconsidered. suggest that theprocess of transferal One such illustrationshows a pair of androgynous figuresgesturing from a hillside at the moon, while looking down at another figurebelow. InAncien Culte this illustrates the Polynesian legend of the 'birthof the stars' (Fig. i). mahorie, Moerenhout, two twinstars flee to avoid being According to this tale,derived from
'? voir et ? lire'; ibid., p. i. example, the facsimile edition by G. Artur 2001) of the originally unillustrated Draft (Papeete 52. 53. For MS is accompanied illustrations, and by the Louvre the 1988 edition of the Draft MS by P. Petit (Paris suite. by the 'Noa Noa' woodcut 1988) is accompanied The first transcript of the Louvre MS (Paris 1924) is published with de Monfreid. illustrations after Gauguin by Daniel clear'. Fr?ches-Thory similarly argues that 'the of the earlier manuscript faithfully illus trate the text, whereas those ofNoa Noa were added C. to the written 'The Paintings of the First Polynesian Sojourn', in Shackelford and Fr?ches-Thory Polizzotti, (as in n. (as in n. i), pp. 18-45 (43)- Likewise, Loize au hasard' them as 'plac?s 10, p. 79), describes

watercolours

after the fact and bear no direct relation page'; tr. M.

54. Wadley (as in n. 4), pp. 144-45, argues for the relevance of the original illustrations on pp. 157, 71 text. to the accompanying and 75 of the Louvre MS 55. According only by recourse nificance (as in n. 2, p. 16), it is toAncien Culte mahorie that 'the sig of several watercolours Noa Noa becomes in to Huyghe

('randomly placed'). left (ibid., p. 80) believes that Gauguin 56. Loize Ancien Culte mahorie in Paris with Morice, and there fore did not copy the illustrations directly. However, (as in n. 4, p. 98), notes that 'in one case at Wadley are exact enough to least the size and silhouette suggest tracing'.

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA

GODDARD

287

mother. Transferred to theLouvre MS ofNoa separated and are pursued by their Noa, thewatercolour image is integrated instead into the account ofGauguin's journeywith thewoodcutter (Fig. 2).57 In this new context, the hillside setting recallsGauguin's arduous trip to theplateau, and the androgynous figuresevoke the 'graceful forms' that attractedGauguin to his young male guide.Whereas previously stars filled the sky,in keepingwith the theme of the legend inAncien Culte mahorie, in the 'copied' Noa Noa illustration,theyhave appropriatelybeen replaced by a tree,representingthe goal ofGauguin's wood-cutting mission. Another example is a watercolour depicting a woman and man on a rock by a stretch water. InAncien Cultemahorie, this image illustrates of the legendofRoua Hatou, thegod of the seawho massacred theentirehuman racewith a flood,saving only one fisherman and hiswife,who took refuge 'an island or amountain' (Fig. on 3). Transferred toNoa Noa, the watercolour becomes another of the illustrations As accompanying the tale of thewoodcutting expedition (Fig. 4) .58 the scale of mass of land and the stretchofwater in thepicture are fairlyindetermi both the nate, theycould be taken to represent, in theirnew context, the mountain which Gauguin and his guide have to scale to reach the tree,and the surrounding river inwhich the artist ispurified along theway. Whereas previously the two figures were clearlyof opposite sex,but the same race, representingthe fishermanand his wife, in the laterversion the contrast in skin colour indicatesGauguin and hisTahitian guide,while the markers of gender have been erased in keeping with the theme of androgyny in the episode: the 'woman's' contours have been hardened and her hair shortened, while the 'man's' back has been turned so thathis chest and profileno longer reveal his sex.This alterationrelatesdirectlyto the surroundingtextin theLouvreMS, where Gauguin notes that 'Amongstnude populations ... thedifference between the sexes is much less than in our climates.' Even for marked women, no longerprotected from the elements, 'the sea air strengthensthe lungs, and broadens the shoulders and the hips.'59 Such changes, although subtle, confirm thedeliberate placement of the illus trations to theLouvre MS and are thereforea furtherindication ofGauguin's creativecontrol over the redrafting Noa Noa. Togetherwith his textualrevisions, of theychallengeLoize's dismissal of theLouvre MS asmerely an intermediary stage in the 'corruption' that led toMorice's La Plume edition. Eager to correct the theLouvre MS assumption-discredited by his discovery of theDraftMS-that was theoriginal version ofNoa Noa, Loize over-compensates by insistingthat the Draft MS and La Plume edition are 'the only two texts that count, from start to finish: what Gauguin proposed initially andwhatMorice produced ultimately'.6o
and 57- Gauguin (as in n. 2), p. 42; Gauguin Morice in n. 7), p. 77. (as 58. Gauguin (as in n. 2), p. 37 ('une ?le ou une and Morice (as in n. 7), p. 79. montagne'); Gauguin nues... la diff?rence entre 59. 'Chez ces peuplades les sexes est bien moins ?vidente que dans nos climats ...l'air de la mer fortifie les poumons, les

?largit

?paules, 60. '...les d?part

ibid., p. 79. deux seuls textes qui comptent, du ? l'arriv?e: ce que Gauguin proposait primi en a fait finalement'; Loize

les hanches';

tivement, ce que Morice (as in n. 10), p. 105.

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

J4LAts
l4te IS

,
4%- J%otJwn~

j s'GA
&vwt

<
itS (Ji4744

fO w$ M
JI

tftt4 t6
4MI4A4tL tOt

/ct
ao -/ J N j t

3~~i

c 56&ttto*f. it UtV4N(44*
V~4 &o &WsSL~aL

ieAt

I .Paul Gauguin,

p. 42 of Ancien Culte mahorie stars' (RMN,

(I 892-93), C Herve

with watercolour Lewandowski)

illustration of 'the birth of the

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

4A

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~l
40

2. Paul Gauguin,

p.77 of Noa Noa,

wood-cutting expedition(RMN, ? Herve Lewandowski)

Louvre MS

(I893-97),

watercolour

illustration for the story of the

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

290

PAUL GAUGUIN'S

NOA NOA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~/

3. Paul Gauguin,

P. 3 7 of A ncien Culte mahorie Hatou' (RMN,

(i1892-93), watercolour ?D Herv6 Lewandowski)

illustration of 'the legend of Roua

His

belief that the Louvre MS was not Gauguin's final version, but Morice's rough and Morice-separately--refined draft, neglects the extent towhich both Gauguin and adapted the original text. Morice's rough draft was in fact not the Louvre MS, which he never saw, but the unfinished before his return toTahiti and fragments that he showed Gauguin into an 'incomplete, incorrect' draft in I895.61 It is this manuscript to up he referred when he publicly insisted in his monograph that his was the to the status of to the reworked

worked which

'true and only first draft', relegating Gauguin's 1893 manuscript 'notes', and dismissing any changes that the artist might have made material himself approval, preface, sequence played inserting could following his return toTahiti substantially

in 1895.62 After Gauguin's departure, Morice textwithout the artist's altered his version of the collaborative

a completely new introduction, eliminating a chapter and the producing adding many more poems, further refining the prose, and reordering the of events a significant in the narrative. Meanwhile role in editing who, as we have Gauguin, to begin with-rewriting the Draft MS MS choses, which, seen, and

further episodes-added be described

to the Louvre

not only the illustrations, as part of the same volume, text.6

but also a lengthy section arguably

called Diverses

as an appendix

rather than a separate

band's

defending her hus wife notes that? authorship rights, Morice's owns another, in addition to the 1897 manuscript?she dated 1895, inscribed by her husband: 'premier manu incomplet toDaniel incorrect'. de Monfreid, Letter from Elisabeth 1921, cited 18August

61. In a letter to de Monfreid

in J.Deville, in L'Ami 'Les deux textes de Noa Noa', du Lettr?. Ann?e litt?raire et artistique pour 1925, Paris of thismanu 1925, pp. 112-24 (117). The whereabouts Morice's script are unknown. An entry in unpublished 2 July 1896 records that 'Hell journal forThursday C. Morice, [Elisabeth] depuis hier copie Noa Noa';

scrit, Morice

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA

GODDARD

29I

.S .............,^e''',''. a e?*t S0X-s~~~~~~~~~~~~..

IA4A
. .* . ....-i..-n ...**-* e-t.C. $t.4-l a'

J
.

Jj%t
, e'*ws

zt4
6440*1t

w /t Jr
0j ~ ~ Aot

/'
'Ao

t'.

af

/4 44r

'Jcr,

ea~~~~c&o&

tA4e~&Vt

I.

Th~

IIUf

X,

dp.&

At

AZ-

rL

I'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4

4. Paul Gauguin,

P79

of Noa Noa,

Louvre MS

(i893-97),

with watercolour Gerard Blot)

illustration for the story of the

wood-cutting

expedition

(RMN,

Petit Journal etArchives 62. Morice revisions unique

du Louvre, I, Paris, Mus?e des Mus?es Nationaux.

Biblioth?que

ait in that 'Gauguin, r?crivant de sa main Noa Noa, dans la r?daction troduit ? son gr? des changements primitive'. 63. This defines it. is how Rotonchamp (as in n. 21, p. 133),

(as in n. 19, pp. 187-88), describes the as 'la v?ritable et that Gauguin approved r?daction primitive' and refers to the possibility

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

292

PAUL NOA NOA GAUGUIN'S

After publishing sections of the reworked Gauguin material, and some of his inLa Revue blanche in I897,Morice persisted inhis campaign own contributions, with the changes thathe had to find a publisher for the volume.64Not satisfied made between I895 and I897, his private journals reveal sustained solo campaigns on the textup until I899, long after the collaboration had soured.65 In contrast, Morice's ongoing involvement in the Gauguin gradually distanced himself from project. In an I899 letterto thepoet's wife, he made a final effortto control the balance of thepartnership,noting 'verses are expected from Morice, I know, but if there are many in this book all the narrator's naivetywill disappear and the Noa Noa will lose itsorigins.'66 Whereas Gauguin not only approved, flavour,the but no doubt contributed to, the textas itappeared in theLouvre MS, he discred ited theLa Plume version, refusing Morice's offerto send IOO copies of this 'un de saison') edition.67 goes too far in suggesting befitting' ('hors Wadley therefore that 'the final formpublished in I9OI more or less corresponds toGauguin's first conception'.68 It is clear that,by this stage,Gauguin felt thathe had lost control over a collaboration thathad been tightly conceived andmonitored by him up until his departure fromFrance, and inwhich he played a greater role thanhas previ ously been accepted. When an impoverishedMorice quietly sold theDraft MS-complete with pasted-in revisions-to the print-dealer Edmond Sagot in I908, he was finally obliged to qualify his claim to sole authorship, acknowledging that 'these pages are all and uniquely by thehand of Paul Gauguin'.69 Either we dismissMorice's guarantee of authenticity as a marketing ploy, or,more persuasively,we are led to accept that Gauguin was capable of originating the idea fora literarytext,and his What ismore, the perception of theLouvre subsequently refining own work. MS as a corrupted, intermediary state isexacerbated by the absence of a complete, illustrated It edition, includingall 'Morice'material, aswell as Diverses choses.7? was clearlyGauguin's intention from the start to develop his schematic Draft into a

and C. Morice, 'Noa Noa', La 64. P. Gauguin Revue blanche, xiv, 105,1897, PP- 81-103, and xiv, 106, received the first instalment pp. 166-90. Gauguin

origine.';

some new poems from it into the only, and copied Louvre MS; Loize (as in n. 10), p. 84. On Morice's attempts to find a publisher, see ibid., pp. 83-85. in his diary 65. After recording 'Aujourd'hui, vendredi, 10 septembre 1897, j'ai achev? Noa Noa'? to the date inscribed on themanuscript corresponding

letter toMadame Morice, Gauguin, ruary 1899, inGauguin (as in n. 20), p. 289. de Noa Noa 67. 'J'avoue que la publication fait hors de saison n'a aucun int?r?t aujourd'hui July 1901, Gauguin, letter toMorice,

Feb tout ? pour ibid., p.

moi.';

in Philadelphia, Paley Library, Temple University?a new phase of work (distinct from the correction of proofs in 1897 and 1901) is indicated with ongoing references to the project, beginning 15December and continuing in February 1899; see C. Morice, Journal, Philadelphia, sity. 66. Paley Library, Temple 1898 Petit

(as in n. 4), p. 149. sont tous et uniquement de la 69. '...ces pages main de Paul Gauguin'. he acknowledges Although still describes these Gauguin's authorship, Morice pages as merely letter to Edmond facsimile 'notes' ('des notes'); Charles Morice, 1908, Sagot, postmarked 30 October enclosed inGauguin (as in n. 3).

303. 68. Wadley

Univer

'On attend des vers de Morice, je le sais, mais s'il y en a beaucoup dans ce livre toute la na?vet? du conteur dispara?t et la saveur, le Noa Noa perd de son

full text of Diverses choses (1896-97) is 70. The available only on the CD-rom ?crivain, Paris Gauguin editions of Noa Noa 2003. Published (for example Paris 1980 and Brussels 1989 and 1994) frequently the revised version of the chapters, but reproduce omit the introduction and Morice's poems.

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LINDA GODDARD

293

fullertext,supplemented by Morice's poems. Togetherwith the illustrations, which extend throughoutthevolume intoDiverses choses,these changesmake theLouvre MS ofNoa Noa an entirelydifferent work fromeither theDraft MS or the I9OI La Plume edition: very much Gauguin's own, and one thatdeserves to be studied in itsown right. Courtauld Institute Art of

This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Mar 2013 21:43:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions